FOX Sports broadcaster Tim Brando said Monday he was, like many basketball fans, stunned Caitlin Clark was left off of the Olympic roster for the 2024 Paris Games.
Clark didn’t make the cut for the 12-player team poised to bring home another gold medal despite her popularity and how interest in the Indiana Fever rookie has helped elevate WNBA TV ratings to new heights.
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Tim Brando (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Brando appeared on OutKick’s “Hot Mic” and called the snub “one of the dumbest business decisions ever made.” He also mentioned Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale, who was also left off the team, as another player who was snubbed.
“But it’s been asked by so many people on social media, Dan Patrick even mentioned it today because he felt like if you’re gonna put Caitlin Clark on (the team) who are you going to take off? … (Arike Ogumwike) is rated like No. 2 overall in all of these different statistical categories and yet she’s not made it either. So, you could make the case, she got jobbed even more than Caitlin Clark,” Brando said.
“But from purely a business perspective, if you want more eyeballs watching your game because the growth of the women’s game is vital to you, which is what the WNBA has been saying to us since 1997, then how in the world could you not let the most popular, not just women’s player, but basketball player in the world right now, how could you not find a spot for her on that roster?”
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever looks on during the game against the Washington Mystics during a 2024 Commissioner’s Cup game on June 7, 2024, at Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C. (Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images)
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Brando said that envy from WNBA figures in the sport or who had retired from the sport likely played a role in Clark being kept from the American bench and were using the team’s depth as a cover for the “real problem.”
“They’re throwing more and more cover to camouflage the real problem, which is a bunch of jealous older players p—ed off, and they wanted no part of her on that team,” he said. “That’s what it was.”
Brando did praise Clark for how she’s handled the media talking points.
Jun 10, 2024; Uncasville, Connecticut, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) moves the ball against Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington (21) in the first quarter at Mohegan Sun Arena. (David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports)
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Clark said she will use the snub as “more motivation” to try to make the team in 2028.
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